590 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



NOTES. 



(1) ' BuUetino di Bibliografia e di Storia delle Scienze Matematiche e Fisiche ' 

 t. xiii. (August 1880, pp. 471-80). " Nuovo documento relativo alia invenzione dei 

 Cannochiali Binocoli, con illustrazioni dal Prof. Gilberto Govi." (New document 

 relating to the invention of Binocular Telescopes, witli illustrations by Prof. Gilberto 

 Govi.) 



(2) Ibid., p. 475, lines 9, 12. 



(y) ' Quatuor problematutn quae Martinus Horky contra nuntium sidereum de 

 quatuor planetis novis disputando proposuit confutatio ; by John Wodderborn, 

 Scotchman. Patavii, Ex typographio Petri Marinelli, m.dc.x. superiorum permissu.' 

 1 vol. 4to, cart. 7 recto. 



(4) Here is how he makes the Peripatetics, his contemporaries, speak in the 

 famous ' Dialogo dei massimi sistemi ' : — " To speak with sincerity, I have not had 

 the curiosity of reading those books, nor have I so far put any belief in the 

 newly introduced Occhiale ; indeed, following in the footsteps of other peripatetic 

 philosophers, my colleagues, I have believed to be fallacious or a deception of 

 glasses what others have admired as stupendous operations." (' Dialogo di Galileo 

 Galilei Linceo ecc.,' Fiorenza, 1632, 4to, p. 328, lines 1-6. Galileo Opere, last 

 edition of Florence, t. 1. p. 366, lines 28-33.) 



(5_) Gal. Opere, t. viii. pp. 430-1. Ciampoli's letter of December 6th, 

 1619 : — " Your Lordship's answer is expected witli the greatest anxiety." Of course 

 this is the answer to Padre Grassi's ' Libra astrouomica.' Gal. Opere, t. viii. 

 p. 436. Letter of Francesco Stelluti of January 27th, 1620 : — ■" and because I have 

 heard that your Holiness had already begun preparing the answer, therefore, &c., 

 &c." 



(6) Gal. Opere, t. vi. pp. 286-7. Galileo's letter to Federico Gesi, of October ]9tli, 

 1622: — "I have finally sent to the Illustrious Signer Don Virginio, the answer to 

 Sarsi." 



(7) " II Saggiatore, nel quale con bilancia esquisita e giusta si ponderano le cose 

 contenute nella Libra Astronomica e filosofica di Lotario Sarsi Sigensano, scritta in 

 forma di lettera all 111™°- et Eeuer™°- Monsr"'- D. Virginio Cesarini Ace"- Linceo 

 M°- di Camera di N. S. dal Sig. Galileo Galilei Acc°- Linceo Nobile Fiorentino 

 filosofo e Matematico Primario del Ser™°- Gran Duca di Toscana. In Eoma 1623.' 

 1 vol. 4to. 



lb., p. 105, lines 28-35 and Galileo Opere, t. iv. p. 248, lines 21-28. 



(8) The letters of Aleandro to Pieresc, and those of Peiresc to Aleandro have too 

 much importance for the argument under discussion to allow of our omitting the 

 extracts which treat of the Microscope. Peiresc's original letters are in the 

 Barberin^n Library, and the passages here reproduced have already been printed by 

 the Abbe Kezzi in his " Memoria " (see note 16), which is amongst those in the 

 ' Accademia poutiflcia dei nuovi Lincei,' for the year 1851. But Eezzi changed the 

 spelling, and omitted some parts of them. 



We have thought it useful to reproduce from the original, the parts in Peiresc's 

 letters, preserving the form intact, and adding those extracts which Eezzi had 

 suppressf^d. 



Having then discovered among Pieresc's manuscripts, which are preserved in the 

 National Library in Paris, some of the letters seat to the learned Frenchman by the 

 Cardinal of Santa Susanna, and by Aleandro in answer to liis, it has been thought 

 right to detach from them the passages relating to the Microscope, and to intercalate 

 them here between those of Peiresc, completing in this manner (as far as possible) 

 the history of tiie origin of the Dutch Microscope, or Drebbel's Microscope, in Italy. 



The extra-ts of Peiresc's letters are from the Codice N. A. 1975 of the Barberini 

 Library. Those from the Cardinal of Santa Susanna's letters from the Codice No. 

 9536, Fond. fran9. de la bibliotheque nationale de Paris. Tiiose from Aleandro'a 

 letters from the Codice No. 9541, Fond. fran9. of the same library. The different 

 passages have been placed in order of time, to render more clearly the history of 

 the facts relating to the invention of the Microscope. 



Here are the documents. First letter of Peiresc to Aleandro : — 



"Most illustrious and most honoured Sir, — Your Lordship will receive the 



